To meet the demands of ever growing data traffic over communication networks, operators augment macro cell base stations by placing metro cell base stations at strategic locations. However, installing a metro cell base station at a location randomly or without having sufficient information on the benefits of installing the metro cell base station at such location may provide sub-optimal benefits from such installation. For example, if the User Equipment (UE) density in that location turns out to be low, then the benefits of the metro cell base station will also be low. Furthermore, incurring costs associated with installing a metro cell base station at a sub-optimal location prior to realizing the insufficiencies of having the metro cell base station at the sub-optimal location does not make sound financial sense for a network operator.
Existing solutions for determining whether a particular target location may be suitable for installing a metro cell base station use triangulation of mobile devices and measurement reports recorded at a Radio Network Controller of a network. Several different geo-location techniques such as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) and enhanced Cell ID (ECID) are used to locate the mobile devices. However, these techniques lack the accuracy necessary to identify the appropriate metro cell base station locations due to geo-location errors. This inaccuracy has been shown in field trials of such method, where metro cell base stations do not perform well (e.g., have insufficient traffic) when placement is chosen based on such techniques.
What is lacking currently is the ability for a network operator to obtain accurate information on the benefits of placing a metro cell base station at a proposed location prior to actual installation of a metro cell base station.